Towards an embodied understanding of the structure/agency relationship

Theoretical conceptualizations of the structure/agency relationship have be en central to die development of the discipline, yet tend to exhibit two ma jor limitations. First, they share a relatively disembodied view of the age nt which overemphasizes cognition and marginalizes the significance of the emotional dimensions of interaction for human action and social structure. Second, most have difficulty maintaining the causal significance of both th e 'people' and the 'parts' of the social system and are, therefore, unable to examine adequately their interplay. This paper suggests these problems a re related, and examines the contribution recent formulations of the 'inter action order' can make toward overcoming the difficulties characteristic of this key sociological debate. The 'interaction order' identifies the embod ied dimensions of interaction as consequential for, yet irreducible to, str uctures and agents, enables us to investigate the 'loose coupling' of inter action to individuals and social systems, but is underdeveloped in importan t respects. This paper addresses these limitations. It also highlights the utility for the structure/agency debate of identifying a sector of embodied interactions concerned with the maintenance of social selves, and suggests how this somatic sector of social life might be developed analytically.